If someone told you to have a quiet time, you’d know what to do: read your Bible and pray. But what if they told you to renew your mind? Would you know how to renew your mind? Maybe not. The renewing of the mind doesn’t have a clear protocol like a quiet time has. Maybe that’s because it’s so messy.

With a quiet time, you know you’ve done it when you’ve “read your Bible and prayed.” With the renewing of the mind, you know you’ve done it when you’re seeing life–and more specifically, your current situation–from a biblical perspective.

It might take a simple prayer to get to that point, a long truth journaling session,  a Bible passage, a chart, some Scripture meditation, a five minute run-through of some questions, or any number of things.

In order for it to be a true renewing of the mind experience, our thinking needs to be transformed. And in order for our thinking to be transformed, our minds need to be actively engaged.

Listening to a sermon while we clean the kitchen and talk to the kids isn’t going to cut it. Neither is having a quiet time just so we can check it off our list for the day.

So what is the renewing of the mind? How do you do it? (Note: I give many practical examples of how to do it on the podcast version of this blog post. You can also find examples in the links at the bottom of this post.)

Paul talks about the renewing of the mind in Romans 12:2 where he says:

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Paul goes into more detail in Ephesians 4:22-24:

“That, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

Paul tells us that the renewing of the mind involves a taking off and a putting on. We do this in several different areas:

So we’re not just reading the Bible–we’re taking everything we’ve learned in the Bible, talking it all over with God, and actively trying to look at life through His eyes.

You can’t do that without a working knowledge of the Word. You also need a willingness–and a desire–to change. And you need time with God as He is the One who renews our minds.

In a sense, the Holy Spirit is acting as our counselor, peeling away the lies so we can see what life is really like and how we should respond to it.

When I renew my mind, I usually start out frazzled and unhappy, thinking certain things have to happen in order for me to be happy. I usually end up peaceful and content, willing to live any sort of life for God–not always, but more often than not.

God has used this discipline in my own life and the lives of countless others to help them with the following:

If we want to see transformation in some area of our lives, it’s important to take the time to renew our minds.

Any time you read the Bible, you’ll have the potential for a renewed mind because God changes us through His Word. How we’ll change will depend on what we’re reading about and how engaged our mind is as we’re reading.

Our minds can also be renewed when we listen to a sermon or read a Christian book. If our mind is thinking biblically by the end of the experience, it has been renewed.

However, when we’re renewing for a specific goal, it’s helpful to do some specific renewing. Following are some suggestions.

If you’re trying to change a habit, you may need to renew several times a day as the truth only changes desires for a few hours in the beginning. Renewing is vital for transformation in the area of our habits, but it’s also helpful for other reasons. Here are a few of them:

I hope that you’ll give renewing a try. It’s a life-changing habit, but it takes some stamina in the beginning to learn how to do it in a way that will be effective. My prayer is that God will bless you through this habit!

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